Irradiation-induced brittle-to-ductile transition in alpha-quartz

R Ravinder and A Kumar and R Kumar and P Vangla and NMA Krishnan, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, 103, 3962-3970 (2020).

DOI: 10.1111/jace.16951

Silicate materials such as quartz and silica glass are inherently brittle in nature. Here, using atomistic simulations, we demonstrate that the quartz crystal exhibits a brittle-to-ductile transition when irradiated. We show that the nanoscale plasticity observed in the irradiated structure is reminiscent of metal-like plasticity, which is neither observed in the isochemical crystalline or glassy structure. Invoking an energy landscape approach, we demonstrate that the local atomic self-organization facilitated by the shallow energy landscape is at the origin of this plastic behavior. Overall, the results suggest that the irradiation could be a methodology to induce a ductile transition in materials that are otherwise brittle.

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